Ice-protector.



No. 862,052. PATENTED JULY-30, 1907. H. S. CLEVELAND.

ICE PROTECTOR.

APPLICATION FILED DEO.12, 1906.

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v aliventoz UNITED STATES PATENT @FFICE. HARItY S. CLEVELAND, OF FARIBAULT, MINNESOTA, ASSIGNOR TO NELLIE R. CLEVELAND, OF FARIBAULT, MINNESOTA.

ICE-PROTECTOR.-

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 30, 1907.

Application filed December 12, 1905. Serial No. 291,494-

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that HARRY S. CLEVELAND, a citizen of the United States, residing at Faribault, in the county of Rice and State of Minnesota, has invented new and useful Improvements in Ice-Protectors, of which the following. is a specification.

My invention relates to refrigerators and the like,

and has particular relation to a device to be placed within the ice chamber over the ice whereby the ice 10' is protected from rapid melting &c.

The object of the invention is to provide a device of the above type which will be strong and durable and yet capable of being readily removed from one ice chamber to another, the construction being such that while the ice is fully protected, there will be no interruption to the proper circulation of air necessary to protect the contents of the refrigerator. I

With this and other objects in view, the invention comprises a frame, the sides and ends of which have coverings of insulating material, such as asbestos, mineral wool or the like, the said insulating material covering all of the four sides of the frame excepting a narrow strip at the lower edges, the said narrow strip at the lower edges being left open to serve as outlets for the cooled air. A lid or cover is hinged to the top of the said frame, and this lid or cover has a covering of insulating material, such as asbestos, mineral wool,

or the like, an opening being formed in the center thereof for the admission of air. the lid or cover an eye is fastened, with which engages a hook carried by the lid, or door, of the refrigerator, whereby, when the said lid or door of the refrigerator is raised, the lid or cover of the ice protector is also caused to rise.

In the drawings" Figure 1 is a-pers pe'ctive view of a refrigerator, the front part thereof being removed to show the practical application of my invention. Fig. 2 is a sectional view of the ice protector. Fig. 3 is a sectional yiew of a modification.

The invention is designed more especially for use in connection with that class of refrigerators'and the like, wherein the ice chamber is composed'of a shelf like structure, having a metallic liningto the bottom. and side walls, a space being left between the said side walls of the shelf like structure and the walls of the refrigera- In such types of refrigerators and the like, the ice is usually placed upon the bottom of the ice chamber, and as there is -no means provided for controlling'the circulation of the air, there is constantly a flowof air toward all :portions of the ice. It has been found by experiment, that with a protector or covering for the ice of sufiicient size to be fitted over the ice and leave a space between At the front edge of.

the walls of the protector and the ice, that a cold zone will be formed in said space, such cold zone acting upon the air admitted to said zone and immediately purifying it. In a protector of this kind it is necessary, of course, to provide an inlet for the admission of the warm or impure air and an outlet for the purified air, and also provision must be made whereby there is no possibility of the air or moisture being admitted within the ice protector except through the air admission opening. In the accompanying specification and drawing I have described and illustrated the details of my invention. i

A designates "a refrigerator provided with theusual lid or cover B, and ice chamber 0.

' The ice protector l have designated generally as 1, and consists ofan upper and lower rectangular frame 23, composed of thick wires, and these two frameswires, and sides and ends of intermeshing thin wires.

A covering 6 of insulating material, which may be asbestos, mineral wool or the like is placed around the sides and ends of the hollow framework so as to extend "from the upper heavy wires 2 down to within ashort distance of the lower heavy wires 3, leaving an open space 7 at the bottom of the framework. This insulating material 6 has openings 15 formed in its top, and

is held in position upon the framework by means of binding wires 8.

9 designates a lid or cover which is connected to the' upper portion of the framework 1 by means of hinge 10. This lid or cover is composed of a frame of heavy wires 11, and longitudinally and transversely thereof extends thin wires 12- 13; A covering 14 of insulating material is placed within the meshes formed by the wires 12-13, the said covering being of a size to completely cover thesaid lid or cover 9. At the center of the covering 14 an opening 15 is formed.

16 designates an eye centrally located upon the front edge of the lid or cover, and a hook,fl7 or the like is located upon the lid or cover B of the refrigerator in a position whereby it can engage the said eye l6.

' In the practical application of my invention, the protector is placed over the ice in the ice chamber, the hook of the lid or cover is engaged with the eye of the warm and impure air from the lower portion of the refrigerator ascends through the space between the side walls of the shelf like structure and the walls of the refrigerator and enters the ice protector through the did of the protector, and both are then closed. The

- sired to use the protector in connection with a reirigerupper openings 15 in the sides of the ice protector and the central opening 15 in the lid or cover. As soon as this air enters the protector it is cooled and purified and descends through the cold zone and out through the lower openings and thence downwaid into the lower part of the refrigerator This circulation is shown in i Fig. 1 of the drawings by means of arrows.

When it is desired to have access to the protector for the purpose of replenishing the ice'or for cleaning &c., the lid or cover oi the refrigerator is raised, and by means of the hook'and eye engagement of the said refrigerator lid and the lid of the protector, both will be opened together,

Various modifications of the above described structure ;may provided; -Forlinstance, when it is deator, the ice chamberol which is provided with front doors, instead'oithe top lid, the prptectors side would T be'h'mged as indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 1, and an eye would be placed thereon for engagement with.

a hook upon one of the doors, so that by. opening the' said doors the side of the protector alsowould be opened.

Another modification of my inventionis shown in I Fig. 3 of the drawings. In this form 'of the invention,

the frame is composed of sheet metal, designated by reference letter A. The lower portion of this sheet metal frame .A is providedwith openings 19,-and a layer of insulating material 6" is passed around the outer side of the frame, the said insulating material being: arranged on the said frame so that its lower edge will extend down in close proximity to the opening '19 in tlie lower' portion of the frame. Openings c-are" iormed'in the upper part'ofthe frame, which form air inlets. B designates anouter frame of sheetmetal,

which is placed around the insulating material, and is designed to hold the saidinsulating material in place upon the irame A. The lid or cover in this form of the invention is also composed of sheet metal having the insulating material thereon, and an additional layer of sheet'metal is placed over the said insulating material, so as to makea lid structure composed of the two layers of sheet metal with the insulating material therebetween,and through these a central opening is .formed.

While Tha've shown the device as applied to household refrigerators, it will be understood that with minor changes which fall well within the scope of my invention, it could be adapted for use in connection with ice boxes,'butcher coole'rs'and' the like.

I claim 1. An ice protector-consisting of a metal frame having upper air inlets and lower air outlets, an insulating mate- 'rial partially covering said'metal frame, the upper portion of said insulating material being provided with openings which register with the upper openings in the metal frame,

,the lower edgesof said insulating material terminating slightly above'the lower openings in the metal frame,

means for retaining said insulating material upon the metal frame, and an insulated lid or cover hinged to said metal frame, said lid of coverbeing provided with a central opening. v

2. An ice protector consisting of a framework of heavy wires and thin wires; an insulating material partially covering said framework to leave openings at the lower portion thereof; a lid or cover of thick and thin wires, and

"an insulating. material covering said lid or-cover, said fi'ame of heavy'wlres and longitudinally and transversely arranged thin wires crossing said frame, and an insulating covering for said lid or cover, the said insulating covering being provided with a central opening.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature, in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

HARRY S. CLEVELAND.

Witnesses:

EDGAR G. OsBonNn, Roscoe Rooms. 

